MUMBAI: The Vidarbha region, which lost many a farmer to agrarian crisis, is now staring at a bigger demon: Drought.

Scarcity of water for thermal power projects is likely to affect electricity generation in Maharashtra in summer.

When Vijay Ingle of Chittalwadi village in Akola district decided to install a biogas plant at his dairy last year, everyone was sceptical. It had failed to take off in the Vidarbha region despite the government promoting biogas as the cleanest and cheapest fuel for over three decades and offering subsidies for setting up the plant. Besides, no one had heard of a biogas plant installed 400 metres from the house; it is usually set up in the backyard, close to the kitchen.

Akole (Ahmednagar district)/Etapalli (Gadchiroli district): Until a few years ago, farm yields in the tribal areas of Akole tehsil in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district were very low and people foun

The state government plans to rope in more than 4,000 anganwadi workers across Maharashtra to play the role of whistleblowers against families and doctors misusing sonography machines to identify a

About 30,000 farmers in Maharashtra are feeling cheated. The soybean seeds they had purchased from the state seed corporation, Mahabeej, failed to germinate this season. About 40,000 hectares (ha) of farms in seven districts have been affected. Mahabeej has 45 per cent share in the soy seed business in the state.

Mandated to create industrial opportunities in the state, the MIDC or Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation has been doing quite the opposite of late—winding up its own plans to set up Spe

When Kanpur businessman Vivek Chaturvedi took up farming as a full-time occupation in 2004, he had no way of knowing that he would usher in a revolutionary farm machine six years later. Chaturvedi's innovation, an ox-driven pump, can pull up 25,000 litres of water in just an hour from depths of 150 feet without the use of electricity or fuel.

After inadequate rains and reduced harvest last year, the Central Government wants to do all it can to prevent further damage. The All India Coordinated Research Project on Agrometeorology (AICRPAM), an institute funded by the Centre, will prepare farmers in its four centres in Maharashtra--Akola, Parbhani, Dapoli and Solapur--to prepare farmers to deal with climate change.

Maharashtra state is one of the progressive states in the country. The state initiated Maharashtra Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MREGA) way back in 1972.

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